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Common charger for all mobile phones on the way in Europe
- deletes 13y agoI have almost immediately remembered this: http://xkcd.com/927/ http://xkcd.com/927/
- norswap 13y agoIf they are smart, they'll mandate micro-usb, which is the closest thing to a standard that we currently have.
- yaakov34 13y agoI remember that too, but I don't think that's how it will go down in this case. A mandatory EU standard has such tremendous weight that it will force a huge share of the market to comply. If the standard is actually any good, there will be no point in not complying with it in other markets. There is already a semi-mandatory EU requirement for micro-USB chargers which has reduced the number of cables that I need. If they standardize on the Lightning-like reversible next-generation USB (which is close to standardization, and looks good), then that's going to be the next universal connector.
- mcintyre1994 13y agoIt's not exactly clear but I assume this means they'll have to provide some sort of converter to Micro USB or whatever? It's a great idea to have a common connector, but Apple aren't going to use the same as everyone else and everyone else seems to be compatible now anyway. It looks like the end result might just be iOS stuff costs a bit more and governments get some more tax money from a ridiculously marked up converter.
- pokesmot 13y agoIndeed. It already exists. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD820ZM/A/lightning-to-micro-usb-adapter http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD820ZM/A/lightning-to-mic...
- minor_nitwit 13y agoAny idea why it would be $20?
- coob 13y agoThe same reason the regular lightning to USB is: * Because it's an active cable, not just a pin mapping. * Because they can.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- salient 13y agoI think that already existed for years, and Apple is pretty much the only one in Europe who offers an adapter for their charger, while everyone else uses micro-USB. So I may be wrong, but I think this is about actually forcing Apple to provide micro-USB directly.
- sigzero 13y agoApple is not going to do that.
- legierski 13y agoI've been under the impression that this is already the reality (minus iPhones)
- knodi 13y agoWow, I love it
- coob 13y agoUgh no thanks. Lightning is orders of magnitude superior to other current solutions (except cost). If it came to the point where this was actually enforced, I bet Apple would just pay the fines it receives and just continues to use Lightning.
- alexcroox 13y agoAgreed, it's smaller, faster and gasp works both ways.
- thirdsight 13y agoJust like AirPrint (IPP), AirPlay (DLNA), AirDrop (Bluetooth/OBEX), Facetime etc... Basically as usual, it's Apple and everyone else. I'll stick with my USB charger thanks as it is 100% ubiquitous as I will my Internet Printing Protocol, DLNA (which doesn't even require an Apple box to talk to my TV!) and bluetooth that works properly across all devices I've encountered. Edit to add: I have 3 Lightning iPads in my house (none are mine personally). The male connectors aren't durable - two dead ones so far. I'm not sure about the sockets either which are way more expensive to replace.
- danbmil99 13y agoSo stick with whatever you want, but what gives you the right to demand that by law, Apple must support your preferred charger configuration? If you don't like what Apple has to offer, vote with your wallet and choose a different vendor.
- thirdsight 13y agoI did. Which is why I have a Nokia Lumia 820 (which charges via USB or wireless charger). It's not about preferred configuration. It's about not producing tonnes of electronic waste by having to require an unreasonable magnitude of charger and device configurations.
- victorhooi 13y agoI think it's a good thing, to avoid the rampant NIH-ism and vendor lock-in which seems to permeate the industry. Sony is a good example - look at their MiniDisc fiasco (I owned several MiniDisc devices), or their MemoryStick format. Just use a open format like SD, and stick to it. Or look at every single phone manufacturer back in the early 2000's, that had to invent their own (usually) inferior charging standard, in some misguided hope you'd stick with them due to all the chargers you'd bought. Or the proliferation of laptop charging standards/pins. Guys - we're delivering power to a portable devices - it's not like we're designing the bloody ISS. Yes, I can admire the engineering that goes into say, the Lightning adapter being reversible. But look at all the ridiculousness of Apple's previous 30-pin connector. They could have just used USB. But then the Apple fans goes "But...but....you can't use TV out!". Yeah, well, the Samsung Galaxy II and MHL would disagree with you. And look at their MagSafe versus MagSafe 2 connectors - they had to change their entire adapter and make it incompatible just to make it what, 2mm thinner? And even though I don't own an iDevices, I think it's absurd that Apple charges "licensing" fees to use it's connector, and needs to add in "authentication" chips. Really? This is as bad as inkjet manufacturers like Lexmark putting in authentication chips to their ink catridges. Same sort of proprietary vendor lock-in nonsense.
- msvan 13y agoI don't understand this. Are they going to force Apple to use the same charger as everyone else? Is that even possible? The article is unclear.
- wmf 13y agoAFAIK they're forcing Apple to ship an adaptor so that iPhones can charge from standard power supplies.
- sjtgraham 13y agoThe USB type C connector is currently under development (slim form factor and reversible), Apple should just make the effort to ensure it's compatible with the Lightning connector, e.g. license the design. Problem solved.
- danbmil99 13y agoThe question to ask is this: if this law were already in place, would Apple (or any manufacturer) ever innovate something like Lightning or the magnetic mac chargers, given that they then also have to support the common standard, putting them at a significant cost disadvantage? This kind of regulation, while arguably well-meaning, always seems to end up distorting market forces and discouraging innovation.
- yaakov34 13y agoI tend to agree, given my small-l libertarian tendencies and my preference for letting people do whatever they want unless it hurts others. On the other hand, there are already scads of standards (including ones that essentially say you-must-do-it-exactly-like-this) for consumer products. And it's hard to see why it's a very big imposition to standardize the DC power supplies, if the AC power supplies are standardized. The EU has shown that they are not inflexible with these standards, as they let the micro-USB standard expire and let people comply by shipping adapters. The interoperability might be worth it; we don't miss having 10 AC outlet types in our house for different brands of appliances.
- Someone 13y agoBut the argument for creating this law is that letting people do whatever they want does hurt others, and that limiting it can prevent or soften the tragedy of the commons.
- malandrew 13y agoAt the end of the day it's all about interfaces and we should, as much as possible, decouple the interfaces from the house and from the appliances. What I would love to see insofar as wall outlets is an adjustment of the current standard wall box and outlet+plate so that you could quickly replace the entire wall place in one go very quickly. With that innovation I would love to see the same on the appliance end where it is trivial to replace the entire code on an appliance. This already exists with IEC320, but if would be nice if everything used IEC320. Then every 5-10 years the industry innovates to dramatically improve one end and then 5-10 years later works to dramatically improve the other end. This would give a very reasonabe 10-20 years between completely replacing all the appliances (or using adapters or switching neither), and 10-20 years between replacing all the wall plates. You wouldn't even necessarily have to upgrade every 10-20. If an appliance is working fine on an old appliance to cord standard or a cord to wall standard, you can leave things alone. It was this interface approach that allowed Apple to have one dock connector for the longest time but many different shaped devices, since all that had to be done is replace the plastic dock insert [0]. This approach wouldn't work for cellphones and laptops, but should work swimmingly for 120v mains since space isn't at a premium except in the appliance. [0] http://km.support.apple.com/library/APPLE/APPLECARE_ALLGEOS/HT1380/HT1380_02---002-en.png http://km.support.apple.com/library/APPLE/APPLECARE_ALLGEOS/...
- bencoder 13y agoI don't understand this. It's pretty much standardised on micro-usb anyway. Any enforcement of this is just going to be a pain as better technologies arise (USB type C).
- nolok 13y agoIt is standardized because in 2009 the EU told them to either sign an agreement to do it, or have a law to force them [1] They signed, but most refused to extend beyond 2012 (partly because they saw apple not really playing game), so here come the law. As long as I can keep a single cable to charge everything, I'm happy. > The Common EPS Memorandum of Understanding expired at the end of 2012. The European Commission reported that all of the MoU signatories, "have met their obligations under the MoU," but that most of the signatories declined an EC request to extend the MoU beyond 2012 [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_External_Power_Supply http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_External_Power_Supply
- cmelbye 13y agoMaybe they'll force manufacturers to use that hideous new USB 3.0 Micro-B standard. Personally, I'd much rather use a great connector designed by someone at Apple (such as Lightning, MagSafe, etc.) than one chosen by a bureaucrat.
- Houshalter 13y agoStandardization seems like a good idea but I'm not sure if I'm ok with the government forcing a single standard. Maybe another idea would be to tax non-compliant chargers, so they could still be legal, but have an incentive to comply to the standard. Or remove patents on chargers so there isn't any incentive to force consumers to buy your brand of charger, you might as well just comply with the standard. Or allow permits for non-compliant chargers if they can give a good justification for doing it.
- przemelek 13y agoYeah, so maybe governments should stop setting rules about right- and left-hand traffic? Private sector will be so much better on establishing non government standards... For example Trucks (for British people Lorries) will user right-handed traffic rules, and normal cars will user left-hand traffic rules. Market will decide what is better.... As we can see market standard for charges was "every company has its own standards, and charge customers more", after UE and China decided ruled at created regulations for charges it was short time and every (except one) producers started to support microUSB/minuUSB as standard. Strange, don't you think? ;-)
- Houshalter 13y agoThis is a ridiculous argument. Traffic rules can lead to death and it's literally not possible for there to be multiple standards. Having a different charger for your device is not dangerous nor impossible. Additionally, I said in my comment that maybe the government should regulate it, I just proposed alternatives that would allow for some reasonable exceptions.
- stefan_kendall 13y agoAll of the usable phones already use lightning. I don't see the issue.